The Babysitter
by medicinecap
Summary: The Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe end up with a babysitting job while investigating alien tech in early 20th century London. Inspired by scenes of 11 with Stormageddon (Alfie).
1. Who is Harry?

The unearthly vworp of the TARDIS filled a Victorian sitting room and the blue box materialized in the corner, next to the long green drapes. It was out of place, a brighter and bolder blue than anything in the entire house. The Doctor opened the door and stuck his head out, looking around curiously.

"It's okay to come out, Jamie, Zoe," he said, stepping out into the room. He straightened his bowtie and placed his hands in the pockets of his frock coat, looking around with interest.

"Where are we, Doctor?" Jamie asked, coming up behind him and copying his stance. "There's enough fancy finery in here for a king."

"It looks like early 20th century London," said the Doctor. "But it seems strange that the TARDIS would pick up a signal from here and lock onto it. There's no sign of trouble anywhere."

"I did a scan for alien tech," Zoe said, slipping out of the TARDIS. She closed the door behind her. "There were a few vague readings, but nothing to be alarmed about."

The three of them cautiously crossed the room, looking all around them, expecting traps. The room had a musty smell and all the furniture was covered in velvet. The carpet was thick and it masked all sound of their movement. Jamie poked at a typewriter sitting on a desk and the Doctor slapped his hands away, worried he would break it. Zoe, rolling her eyes at their antics, crossed the room and opened the door. It led into the front hall with a high ceiling and small electrically wired chandelier. There was a large staircase across from the front door leading up to the second floor. A woman in a fluffy pink dress was descending quickly. She held the end of her long skirt up delicately and primped her hair with the other hand.

"Oh, there you are, dear," she said, noticing Zoe standing there. "Sorry I couldn't get to the door in time, I'm glad you let yourself in. I'm in such a rush, already late." She grabbed a luscious fur coat off of a rack by the door and slipped it on. "What was your name again, sweetheart?"

"Zoe," she told the woman, confused, but she decided to play along.

"Zoe, thanks again for coming at the last minute. By the way, I love your cat suit. Great color, where'd you get it?"

"I…" Zoe tried to remember where she had acquired the suit, but the woman spoke again before she had a chance to make up her mind.

"Oh, look at the time! Harry's upstairs sleeping right now, but he might wake up at any moment." The woman threw the door open and stepped out onto the front step. "I think there's milk in the fridge, but you'll have to check. If not, Mrs. Gilligan at 4120 Bowman will have some. Gotta fly, bye darling." And with a sweeping gesture, she slammed the door behind her. Zoe was left breathless in her wake. The woman had a high energy level. It took the wind out of Zoe, who preferred to maintain a cool head.

"Who was that fluffy pink thing?" Jamie asked, peeking into the hall. "Is she gone?"

"Yes, she is," sighed Zoe. "Though I have no idea what just happened."

"Well, I'm glad," Jamie smoothed down his fur vest. "I was afraid if she saw me she'd start off again with the feathers."

"I'm sure she would have loved to talk to you, Jamie. Your skirt would probably inspire a new fashion trend."

"Oi, it's a kilt." Jamie shook a finger at her. "Don't you be forgetting it."

"Who was she?" Zoe asked, looking at the Doctor for explanation. He had followed Jamie in to the hall and was bent over, inspecting an antique vase.

"I think a better question is: who is Harry?" The Doctor put a foot on the bottom step of the stairs and looked up. As if he had triggered some alarm, a baby's warbling cry floated down to them.

The three of them looked at each other, completely at a loss of what to do.


	2. I speak baby

"Well, we had better go get him," Zoe said, but made no move to do so.

"Right," the Doctor said. He cleared his throat, puffed out his chest, and marched up the stairs. His companions followed, none too eagerly.

Once upstairs, they followed the sound of the crying to the baby's nursery. It was a cheerful yellow, but the room was dimmed by heavy drapes over the window on the far wall. A bucket full of unused toys lay in the corner and a crib was pressed against the wall to their left. Inside, they could see a small shadowy figure moving. It was covered in a blanket so it was shielded from view, but it sounded exactly like a baby.

The three of them approached the crib cautiously and the baby's cries softened. Instead, it fussed and whined and kicked harder than ever.

The Doctor peeked down at it, Jamie at his shoulder, clinging to him in case anything unexpected happened. Zoe was at his other side, her hands on the gate of the crib.

Staring up at them was the most adorable baby they had ever seen. It was mostly a pair of large blue eyes, but there was a tiny button nose beneath that, and a little pink tongue lolling out. The baby flailed and made an unhappy face. Then it began to cry again.

"Um, I think it's hungry." The Doctor said. "It seems to be saying milk. Either milk, or moccasins, I'm not sure. Both words sound so alike."

"What do you mean, Doctor?" Zoe asked.

"Oh, I speak baby," he said, as if that made perfect sense. Jamie laughed.

"No, you don't," he punched him lightly in the shoulder thinking the Doctor had just told a good joke.

"Well, not as fluently as I'd like," the Doctor admitted. "I'm still practicing. It's a very difficult dialect because every baby speaks just a little bit differently."

"You're taking me in!" Jamie cried. "You don't mean to tell me that you can listen to that wee bairn and tell me what it's saying."

The baby began to cry even louder and Zoe couldn't stand it any longer. She reached down and supported the baby's head, as she had seen the nurses do on her old spaceship home. She lifted the little wiggling thing into her arms and held it close to her breast. Immediately, it quieted down and stared up at her with huge, reflective eyes. She smiled at it and automatically reverted to baby-talk.

"Who's a precious little baby?" she asked, her voice going up an octave. She wagged her face at it. "You're such a darling little thing, aren't you?"

"Oh, aye," said Jamie, leaning over her shoulder to get a good look. "You're a wee laddie, aren't you?" He smiled and the baby made a cooing noise.

"That one was a bit more difficult to make out," the Doctor said, wrinkling his brow in concentration. "He seems to think you sound funny, Jamie."

"Oh, well, that's nice of him," Jamie crossed his arms and smirked at the baby. "You think I sound funny? You should hear yourself sometime."

"Come say hi, Doctor," Zoe said, leaning towards him.

"Oh," said the Doctor happily. "Um, hello there, little one." He took the baby's tiny fist between his fingers and shook it lightly. At once, the child began to wail.

"Now look what ye've done." Jamie said crossly. "Gone and made it all noisy again."

"He needs to be fed," Zoe reminded them. She left the nursery, the child still in her arms. "The mother said there was some in the kitchen." She led them downstairs and to the back of the house where the kitchen was located. It had an old fashioned ice box and she opened it hopefully. It was full of food, but not a single thing that looked like baby's milk.

"It looks like we are out," she said, shutting the door and turning to the Doctor and Jamie. "I'll go and get some more from the neighbor she mentioned."

Before either of them could protest, she pushed the babe into Jamie's arms and went promptly to the front door.

"Oi, Zoe! You can't just leave it here with us. What am I supposed to do with it?"

"It is a he," she reminded him firmly. "And he is Henry. You can hold him and play with him until I get back. Don't worry, I should only be a few minutes."

She disappeared out the front door and Jamie and the Doctor were left with Henry, who was beginning to cry again. They looked at each other helplessly.


	3. Zoe goes for Milk

Outside, Zoe chuckled to herself as she skipped down the front steps. She knew that she was the one with the most motherly instinct out of all of them, and it probably made more sense to send Jamie for the milk, but she wanted to give the two men a chance to learn something new. Most of the time they were dashing off to investigate an alien space shuttle or breaking into top secret bases. But when it came to anything domestic, they were both clueless. It would be a good learning experience.

It was a wet London afternoon, Zoe could see as she walked down the sidewalk that was darkened by a drizzle. She shivered and hugged her arms around her body, trying to retain her body heat. The address Henry's mother had given him made sense immediately when she came to the street corner and looked up at the signpost. Bowman Street ran perpendicular to theirs and she could tell by the house numbers that she was a couple blocks away from 4120.

Zoe turned left and walked swiftly down the sidewalk, keeping her head down and avoiding piles of slick wet leaves. The world was silent, except for the wind in her ears. Because of the quiet, she was able to pick up on the slightest tap-tap-tap-tap behind her. It sounded like footsteps, though strange ones. Zoe glanced over her shoulder, expecting to see someone there. She was alone. She glanced up and down the street, but it was abandoned.

She started walking again and immediately heard the tapping start up again. She stopped and spun around in one swift movement, hoping to catch a glimpse of who was following her. There was no one. Zoe shivered, not from the cold, and started to trot down the road, picking up her pace just a little. The tapping came again, also increased in speed. Terror seized her and Zoe broke into a run. This time, there was no tapping, only a loud buzzing above her head like a small engine. She looked up, only to see the sky blotted out by a large dark shaped descending upon her. Zoe screamed and was enveloped tightly. She felt a poke in her arm like a giant needle and she passed into unconsciousness.

Back at the house, Jamie and the Doctor sat across from each other in the sitting room, looking grim. Jamie sat on a sofa and the Doctor was leaning forward on a velvet upholstered chair. Between them, on an ottoman, was Henry. He lay there in the center of the room, kicking and crying.

"Doctor, I cannot stand it," Jamie said, rising from his spot and going to Henry. "Oh, come on, please be quiet. I promise, your mummy will be back soon to get you. Please, just stop," he pleaded with Henry, but it did no good. Henry was hungry and tired of lying down and he was going to cry until someone did something about it.

"What's he saying?" Jamie asked, looking at the Doctor hopefully.

"He's saying, feed me, you incompetent idiots." He sighed. "Or something like that."

"Really?" Jamie asked.

"No, I'm just guessing. He's actually crying now."

"Should I pick him up?"

"I should think that would be the best thing to do," said the Doctor thoughtfully.

Jamie awkwardly reached down and lifted Henry, one hand under the baby's armpit, the other around his chubby thigh. The baby let out an indignant cry.

"That one I got. He says to be gentle, you big oaf."

"Why, I outta drop you right now," Jamie said to the baby. "Big oaf indeed. What's a wee sprite like you going to do to me, eh? I'll not be bullied by the likes of you. I get enough of that around here with the lassie poking fun at me and the Doctor calling me 'simple-minded.' I'll not have it from you too."

Henry laughed at this in his contagious baby giggle and Jamie smiled. He held Henry against his chest and bounced him up and down.

"Ken you how a Whig can fight,  
Aikendrum, Aikendrum?  
Ken you how a Whig can fight, Aikendrum?  
He can fight the hero bright,  
With swift heels and armour light,  
And his wind of heav'nly might, Aikendrum, Aikendrum!  
Is not Rowley in the right, Aikendrum?"

Jamie told the nursery rhyme to Henry. The baby watched him intently. "This isn't so bad, Doctor," said Jamie, grinning. "The wean is gay when he's not thinking about how hungry he is."

"Speaking of food, where is Zoe?" The Doctor checked his wristwatch. "She ought to be back by now, one would think."

"Oh, give her a few more minutes, Doctor. She's probably gone off to get some other supplies for us. You know how she is."

Jamie carried Henry around the house, narrating in a funny voice and making comments about things he didn't understand.

"And that, Henry, looks like a little robotic pet with a long metal pole as a leash. You can take it on walks around the house, but stay away from the stairs."

"That's a vacuum cleaner, Jamie," the Doctor corrected him.

"Alright, so that's a vacuum cleaner. You use it to clean vacuums." He moved on to the next room. The Doctor, unable to keep still for very long, got up and went back to the TARDIS. He went over to the console and checked the readings that Zoe had found for alien tech. She had been right, there wasn't much there, just faint traces, but that was to be expected, especially if there were a museum anywhere within a mile. Half of the artifacts were usually alien in nature.

There was a slightly stronger reading though, nearby, that looked unusual. The Doctor decided to run a second scan just to see if he could get any more information on it. He focused the scanner on a smaller range and waited. Within five seconds, the screen provided him with a reading.

There was definitely something alien nearby, but it was either very old and weak, or very well hidden. There was a halo of alien residue around the house, with even a little bit of a reading inside. He called up all the information that the TARDIS had picked up since they had arrived. Twelve minutes ago there had been a flare in power and then things had returned to a "normal state."

The Doctor exited the TARDIS again, his chin resting on his hand as he frowned thoughtfully. He was worried about Zoe. She had been gone far too long.

"Jamie," the Doctor said.

"Aye?" Jamie was lying on the couch with Henry sitting on his chest. He stopped waving the baby's arms around and looked up.

"I want you to go and find Zoe while I stay here and investigate some more. This house is the focal point for some aliens and I want to figure out why.

"Alright, Doctor," Jamie sat up and carried Henry over to the Doctor. "Here you go."

"What?" The Doctor backed away, looking more afraid than Jamie had ever seen him, even when facing an army of Cybermen.

"You've got to take him," Jamie insisted, grinning wickedly. "I cannot take him out with me, and since you're staying here, you're responsible."

Henry had begun to cry again, and the Scot pushed him into the Doctor's arms. "I'll be back soon," he promised, and left the room. Henry was wailing and the Doctor stared at him, desperately trying to make some sense of his cries.


	4. Papoose

Jamie hurried down the front steps and looked up and down the street, hoping to see Zoe on her way back. She was nowhere to be seen. Jamie set off down the street briskly, looking all around him. He liked the look of the street, with it's even trees and uniform houses. The road was smooth, moist dirt that didn't kick up much dust. A small motorcar rumbled past and the driver honked at him in a friendly way. He waved and kept walking.

He came to a crossroad and tried hard to remember the name of the street that Henry's mother had told Zoe. Something with the letter B, he knew. The signpost said Bowman, and it sounded right, so Jamie decided to make a guess and go right. He had no idea what the number of the house was, but it was owned by a Mrs. Gilligan. He decided that if he went both directions and didn't see Zoe anywhere, he'd knock at one of the houses and ask to be directed to Mrs. Gilligan's home.

He never got the chance. Unlike Zoe, who was quiet and very aware of her surroundings, Jamie's loud thumping footsteps masked all other sounds. He was unaware that he wasn't alone until the buzzing was directly over his head. He dropped to the ground, covering his head, and received a stab in the butt for his trouble. His world went dark.

Back at the house, Henry was screaming at the top of his lungs. All of his favorite people were gone, and he was left with this strange old man who didn't seem to want to be around him either. His tummy was hurting and he was hungry.

"Stop this right now, young man," the Doctor scolded him. He didn't listen and didn't care. "You listen to me. We're both very unhappy. I want Jamie and Zoe back as much as you do, but I can't get anything done until you be quiet." Henry kept crying and the Doctor sighed. "Are you even saying anything, or are you just wailing?"

He held Henry tight against his side and went over to the window. With the TARDIS scanner picking up so many little readings, he expected there to be something visually out of place, but there was nothing. Just a very large and well-tended garden.

"What do you think, Henry?" he asked, looking at the child. The babe whimpered. "I know, I know," the Doctor said quickly. "You just want food. Why are humans always so preoccupied with eating?"

He wanted to go rummage about in the bushes looking for clues, but he had to consider little Henry and how much trouble it would be to lug him around everywhere. Still, a short walk in the garden wouldn't be too difficult to manage. The Doctor went through the kitchen to the back door. It opened onto a little path through the garden.

Cautiously, the Doctor leaned his head out and looked all around. He had an acute sense that there was danger nearby, so he retreated into the house again, both arms wrapped protectively around Henry.

"Back into the TARDIS," he said. "Maybe we can find discover something new." He took Henry in with him and leaned over the scanner. Henry made a few gurgling noises.

"What's that? Oh, yes, I know, bigger on the inside," the Doctor turned his attention back to the scanner. There had been another flare, three minutes ago.

"This is impossible," he said, looking at Henry. "I can't get anything done here with you screaming at me, and I really need to be out there, finding Jamie and Zoe. Something bad has become of them, I'm sure of it."

The Doctor went into the TARDIS closet and found what he was looking for between an Aztec ceremonial dress and a furry Russian cap. It was a long pink scarf that was also very wide and made of a thin but durable linen.

"Sit here," he told the still crying Henry, setting him down in a basket of linens. He slid the scarf up under Henry's bottom and then wrapped it around his own neck and back, crossing it several times until he had a papoose. "Much better," he said. "Now, we're going out."


	5. Running from Icky

With a loud bang, the Doctor slammed the large oak door behind him and stepped out onto the drive. The sky overhead was overcast and storm clouds were blowing in. The Doctor walked briskly down the street. Henry had quieted for the moment and was looking all around him, utterly fascinated. They took the same path as Zoe and Jamie, until they got to Bowman Street. The Doctor stopped at the corner, and he heard a tapping noise behind them. Pretending not to hear it, the Doctor turned left and slowed his pace.

"Henry, listen to me very carefully," he said quietly into the baby's ear. "I need you to tell me what's behind us. Don't be frightened. Just look and do your best to tell me." Henry began to whine, but the Doctor, exasperated with his complaining, gave a long shush. Henry went silent.

"That's better," he said. "Now, I know you're hungry and worried, but so am I. But this is no time for being a baby." He paused and cleared his throat. "I mean a frightened baby. Now look behind me and tell me what you see. Understand?"

Henry made a small sound of agreement, and turned his head to look over the Doctor's shoulder.

"Icky," he said, spraying spittle all over the back of the Doctor's frock coat.

"Are you sure?" The Doctor asked. He was tempted to look over his own shoulder, but knew that it could ruin everything.

"Icky," Henry said again.

"Alright, here's the plan, Henry. When I say run, we're going to run away. Understand?" Above them, a buzzing noise began and the Doctor cried, "Run!" and dove off of the sidewalk. He pushed through some bushes and took a shortcut between two houses. He could hear a strange sound behind them, like a bunch of marbles rolling over each other. He placed a hand on Henry's head to keep it steady and ran helter-skelter between another two houses, popping out onto the street just in front of Henry's house.

The last dash was a mad one. The Doctor sprinted up the front steps and burst through the door. Out of the corner of his eye, he could just see a strange greenish creature with a shell following behind him. He slammed the door shut with all his might and leaned against it, breathing heavily. Henry was mute, but his wide eyes told the Doctor that he, too, was afraid.

"They're after something that's here in this house, Henry. But what?" He looked around at all the junk that would be worthless in a decade or two. None of it made sense. Dormant aliens that were afraid of being seen, surrounding the house, taking his companions, chasing him back to the house. Why? He needed more information.

"Come along, Henry. It's time to be brave again." They went to the back door in the kitchen again. Their best shot was to sneak out the back and take the aliens by surprise. The Doctor opened the door and dashed along the garden path, looking all around him quickly. There were plenty of lovely plants and flowers, but nothing that meant anything to the Doctor. He followed the path until it stopped in front of a high stone wall at the back of the property.

"Now, why would a path lead to nowhere?" he asked Henry. "There's no reason for it. I'm certain there has to be a secret door or something hidden in the wall." He began feeling along the vine-laden wall, pushing down and hoping to hit a release mechanism. His hunch was correct, and portion of the wall rolled to the side with the sound of stone grating on stone. The Doctor patted Henry reassuringly on the back. The tunnel was dark and led down at a gentle slope, into the ground, like a tomb.

"It'll be alright, Henry," he said, more to convince himself than Henry. "It'll be alright." Then they plunged into the darkness.

At the end of the tunnel, there was light, both literally and figuratively. There was a cavern bathed in a green florescent glow that seemed quite bright compared to the pitch black they had been travelling in before. On the way down, Henry had fallen asleep, his head resting against the Doctor's chest. It inspired the Doctor to take courage. He had another young life to protect.

"Doctor," came a familiar cry from Jamie.

"Oh, Doctor, you're here," Zoe joined in the chorus of happy exclamations. Henry stirred, awoken by the sound of friendly voices.

"Where are you?" asked the Doctor, looking around.

"Over here," Jamie said. "Farther in." Following the sound of his voice, the Doctor was able to locate his companions. At first the Doctor thought they were hanging on the wall, their arms above their heads, but he saw that they were actually trapped in a web hanging from the ceiling.

"This is quite interesting," said the Doctor, touching the web with his fingertips. He rubbed his fingers together to get a feel for the consistency and brought them to his nose to smell them.

Jamie groaned in annoyance.

"Doctor, please," Zoe said desperately. "This is no time for scientific research. Help us get free."

"Right," said the Doctor, suddenly reminded of his mission at hand. "Don't move or struggle. I'll have to carefully cut your webs down so that it doesn't collapse on top of you and get you even more tangled. Now, what to use to cut it…" He patted his pockets, trying to think of something.

"My dirk, Doctor," Jamie said. "You can use that. It's in my hose."

"Right, good idea, Jamie."

"Please, hurry," Zoe cried. "My arms feel as though they're about to fall off."

The Doctor found Jamie's knife and went to work sawing away at the web near Zoe's hand.

"Stay still, my dear," he warned her. "It's very sharp and I don't want to accidentally cut you."

"Doctor," said Zoe, suddenly realizing what she was seeing. "You brought Henry with you down here?" She was horrified.

"Well, of course. I couldn't leave him on his own."

"Oh, hello there again, wee bairn," Jamie tried to wave at Henry, but he only made the web shake.

"Jamie," the Doctor warned him.

"I see you're sporting a new fashion, Doctor," Zoe said, smiling in the green glow. "It's a good color for you."

"Oh, aye," Jamie agreed. "A papoose. Every Timelord should have one."

Henry made a gurgling and cooing noise, not wanting to be left out of the conversation.

"What do you mean?" The Doctor asked indignantly. "Why does 'the bowtie needs to go too'? It's accepted around the universe as a sign of culture."

"Have you two been having some good bonding time, then?" Zoe asked. "Improving your baby skills?"

"I'd say I have a fuller understanding of the language now," the Doctor said, completely missing the point. Henry began to cry again, softly, when the Doctor heard a sound echoing through the cavern. He hushed Henry and listened, straining his ears. There was a tap-tap-tap-tap echoing, and that same sound of marbles rolling on top of each other.

"Doctor, that's the sound I heard before they brought me here. Hurry!" Zoe urged him on, and the Doctor quickly cut free a corner of the web and moved on to the next. The sound was growing louder, and Henry was whimpering.

The Doctor was busy working on a third strand of web when something long and pointed tapped him on the shoulder. He froze and turned around slowly. Before him sat the largest and most grotesque beetle he had ever seen. It was nearly the size of a human, definitely fatter, with legs and antennae as long as a man's arm. It looked like it might be brown and red or black, but the green glow made it hard to tell.

"Our master wishes to see you." The bug spoke in a metallic robotic monotone.

"Right, of course," said the Doctor, nodding. He slipped the knife into Zoe's hand that was most mobile and stepped forward.


	6. Short-lived

"Lead the way," he said. The bug turned around and skittered deeper into the cave. More bugs crawled down the sides of the cave as if they had come out of the walls. It was a hive, the Doctor realized. A hive of bugs. There was a variety, from flying ones, to bugs with stingers, to fat sluggish ones. But they all shared two things in common. They were impossibly huge, and they were robotic. As he watched, the Doctor could tell by the way they moved that they were not organic. They were very good robots, but definitely not the real thing.

The bugs led him deep into a labyrinth of caves. The Doctor soon gave up keeping track of the twists and turns. He'd never find his way out again on his own. He hoped that the master of the bugs would have mercy on him and give him a guide if he set him free.

A terrible stench announced to the Doctor that the bug king was much more organic than his minions. When the smell had become almost unbearable, the bug robot stopped. It scurried off into the darkness and the Doctor didn't have to wait long. It came back seconds later and was followed by a large fatty figure hidden in the shadows.

"You have brought us our prize," came a low, hissing voice out of the dark. "You shall be rewarded."

"I'm sorry, what do you mean?" asked the Doctor.

"You and your friends have brought us the prize we seek and so you shall be rewarded and saved from the oncoming flood."

"Flood?" The Doctor asked, confused.

"You do not know the prophecy. But we do. The flood is coming, and we must all leave before it is too late."

"Perhaps we should start with introductions," said the Doctor. "I'm the Doctor. And you are?"

"I am Kaxtekoka, lord of the Flabbenguders."

"Ah, the Flabbenguders," said the Doctor, recognizing the name. "You're from Decora VII. You are giant insect-arachnids, I believe. Your robotics technology is coveted across many galaxies."

"That is right," said the bug. "I am pleased that one from Earth should know of us."

"But, what are you doing here?" The Doctor asked, frowning. "You should be back home on Decora VII."

"That is our wish," said Kaxtekoka. "To leave before the great flood happens and washes us all away. You have brought us the key just in time."

"I'm afraid I still don't understand."

"The human child you have there with you. He is to be our redemption. Henry Wallace Rediger is one of earth's foremost scientists in developing atmosphere takeoff stabilizers. You have brought him to us and he shall save us before the flood."

"Henry Wallace Rediger," said the Doctor thoughtfully. "Yes, I recognize that name. He was the father of space travel science on Earth." The Doctor's mouth formed a silent "O" and he looked down at the baby in the papoose he was carrying. Suddenly he was putting all the puzzle pieces together.

"You want him to make you a spaceship so you can get off this planet and go home. But you've come too early, Kaxtekoka. He's just a baby and doesn't know anything about takeoff or science. He can't even speak anything but Baby yet."

"What are you saying?" asked the king of the bugs. His minions all turned to face the Doctor menacingly.

"I mean that he's too little and won't do you any good. You've got him about 30 years too early. This child is no good to you, now. He's still a pupa or larvae or whatever it is you have."

"You seem to know an awful lot, Doctor. You're very smart," said Kaxtekoka.

"Why, thank you," said the Doctor, grabbing his jacket lapels and smiling.

"Perhaps you could build us our takeoff stabilizers."

"Oh, that's an idea. I'll have a look, though it might take me a few days since I haven't used anything besides a TARDIS for travel in so long."

"We don't have a few days," roared Kaxtekoka. "It is only a matter of a few hours before the great flood."

"I have an idea. Why don't you come with me in my TARDIS? I could take you all home very easily without all this fuss."

"Doctor, I don't think you understand. This is our home, our colony. We have our spaceship built around it and we're not leaving it behind. "

"But you said it's going to flood. I cannot possibly fix the stabilizers in a few hours. Your only option is to come with me in the TARDIS."

"No," said Kaxtekoka firmly. "We must stay."

"Well, if you won't come, will you please release my friends and I so that we may escape?"

"I do not see why not." Kaxtekoka made a few clicking noises and the bug that had guided him returned the way they came.

"Are you sure?" the Doctor asked.

"Quite sure," Kaxtekoka said.

"I'm very sorry then. It was an honor to meet you." The Doctor bowed as best as he could with a baby strapped to his chest.

"And you, Doctor. I have heard many things about you."

"You have?" he asked.

"Yes. In the future you are well known throughout the Universe."

That gave the Doctor a lot to think about. He mulled it over as he followed the bug back to the glowing cavern where Zoe and Jamie had been. They were already gone, leaving only severed wisps of web strewn across the floor.

"I can find my own way back now," the Doctor told the bug. "Thank you." It clicked it's reply and disappeared into the darkness. The Doctor began the long ascent back to the surface.

When he stepped out into the light, Henry had begun to cry again. No amount of talking or shushing would quiet him, so the Doctor quickly crossed the garden and entered the house through the back door. Jamie and Zoe were waiting for him. They ran forward to greet him with warm hugs.

"We had wondered if you'd ever come out of there alive," Jamie said. "Am I glad to see you!" He picked up the screaming child and held him. The baby still cried.

"Here, let me take him," Zoe said. Even in her arms, Henry would not quiet down. It was then that they heard the calls of his mother in the front hall. Zoe ran out to meet her.

"There's my sweet little Henry baby," said his mother, bending over to coddle him. She took him from Zoe and he quieted. "You're such a good little baby." She turned to Zoe. "How was he? Was there any milk?"

"None," said Zoe. "And I never could find 4120 Bowman."

"Well, that's alright. Mommy's here now. Thank you, dear. Here, let me pay you. You don't mind a check, do you?"

"Um, that's fine," Zoe shrugged, unsure what she would do with a check from the early 20th century on Earth. Still, the woman wrote it and tore it out of her checkbook.

"Any chance you would be interested in babysitting again?" she asked hopefully.

"Probably not," Zoe admitted.

"Well, alright then. Thanks!"

"Goodbye," Zoe waved and went out the front door. It was raining heavily when she stepped out. She walked around the back to the garden and entered the house again through the back door. Jamie and the Doctor were still in the sitting room.

"Alright, let's go," Jamie said, heading for the TARDIS. The Doctor, who stood at the window, didn't move.

"Doctor, are you coming?"

"Yes," he said. He looked out the window at the rain one more time, then walked slowly to the TARDIS.

"What's wrong?" Jamie asked, noticing how sorrowful he was.

"They all decided to stay behind and die in the flood," the Doctor said.

"All the bugs?"

"But," said Zoe, "There are no floods in London this time of year."

"Not on a widespread scale," agreed the Doctor. "But their ship is directly linked to the draining pipes under the city. When it rains, they get flooded out."

"But haven't they survived a shower before?" Zoe asked.

"No, they haven't. That's the unique thing about the Flabbenguders, those bugs. They are brilliant creatures when it comes to robotics and can make major strides in development over just a few hours, but their lives are so short. They probably crashed here no more than a week ago. If this flood hadn't come, they would have only lived a couple more days at the most. Brilliant creatures, but short-lived. If only they would have come with me."

"You can't make everyone come with you," Zoe said, laying a hand on the Doctor's arm.

"Aye," agreed Jamie. "And if you did, can you imagine the state the TARDIS would be in?" They all laughed and the Doctor went to the TARDIS. He opened the door and let his companions go in, then he climbed in after them and shut the door. The room was filled with the vwarp of the engines once again, and the TARDIS was gone, as if it had never even been there.


End file.
